KOTA KINABALU: A youth, who was arrested in Lahad Datu for possessing a stolen motorcycle that was reported missing in Kota Kinabalu since November last year, was sentenced to 14 months’ jail by the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday.

Faizul Madjuhari admitted before magistrate Stephanie Sherron Abbie to keeping the stolen property belonging to a man at a compound of Cenderawasih police station on February 1.

The accused was convicted under Section 411 of the Penal Code which provides for a jail term of up to seven years and also liable to a fine, upon conviction.

Prosecuting officer Inspector Lim Swee Beng told the court that the complainant had lodged a report on November 14, 2017 that his motorcycle which was parked in front of a bank branch in the city area had gone missing.

The complainant had parked the motorcycle there and went to work and only came to know that the motorcycle was missing when he went for lunch that day.

Meanwhile, the accused was apprehended at the police station and upon checking, the motorcycle found with the accused was discovered to have belonged to the complainant.

In mitigation, the accused, who was defended by counsel Christine Linus of the National Legal Aid Foundation, urged court to impose a lenient sentence on the accused on the grounds that the accused was a first time offender and he had regretted his actions.

The counsel also urged the court to take into account that no one was harmed in this case.

In reply, the prosecution rebutted that even though no one was injured in this case, the owner of the vehicle had suffered financial loss because of it.

The prosecution then pressed for a deterrent sentence to be handed to the accused.

In an unrelated case, seven men were each sentenced to 12 months’ jail by the same court for separate charges of consuming syabu.